Further Characterization of the Time Transfer Capabilities of Precise Point Positioning (PPP)

Abstract

In recent years, many national timing laboratories (NMIs) have installed geodetic global positioning system (GPS) receivers together with their traditional GPS/GLONASS Common View (CV) receivers and two way satellite time and frequency transfer (TWSTFT) equipment. Many of these geodetic receivers operate continuously within the international GNSS service (IGS), and their data are regularly processed by IGS Analysis Centers. From its global network of over 350 stations and its Analysis Centers, the IGS generates precise combined GPS precise ephemeredes and station and satellite clock time series referred to the IGS Time Scale. A processing method called precise point positioning (PPP) is in use in the geodetic community allowing precise recovery of GPS antenna position, clock phase and tropospheric delays by taking advantage of the IGS precise products. Natural resources Canada (NRCan) has developed software implementing the PPP methodology. A previous assessment of PPP, as a promising time transfer method, was carried out at INRiM (formerly IEN) in 2003 [7], showing better stability over short/medium term than GPS CV and GPS P3 methods. Further analysis was carried out in 2005 [12] where, running continuously for period of up of two weeks, the NRCan PPP software was able to reduce the day-boundary discontinuities, allowing specific time-limited campaigns (PTFs). This paper reports on follow-on work performed at INRiM and NRCan to further characterize the PPP method for time transfer applications, involving some of the National Metrology Institutes considered in 2005. We take advantage of continuous PPP processing to develop a procedure to improve the continuity of solutions and to reduce the solution boundary discontinuities present in the daily PPP results.